Paris...wow...where do I even begin? I do believe I had one of the most unlucky weekends in my life these past few days but hey, I was still in Paris right?
Thursday night a group of nine girls was so excited to be headed out to Paris on our first free travel weekend. We made sure to get to the train station a good forty minutes early so we wouldn't miss our train. While a few of us were wandering throught the grocery store, Charli and myself decided to take a look at the departure board to see if our train had arrived yet. Unfortunately, our train wasn't even on the board. We calmly walked over to the help desk where they told us we were at the wrong train station. Great. The only way to get to the station on time was by taxi, so we grabbed the girls out of the grocery store and flagged down three taxis as fast as we could. Our drivers were kind enough to speed a little bit and we got there with a few minutes to spare. Not a great way to start off, but at least we didn't miss our train. Once we were settled into our rooms we realized that our doors didn't have locks. We had all been told horror stories about people getting things stolen in the middle of the night, so we tied all our things together, wedged them under the seats and fastened them to any pole in sight. Regardless of our cautiousness, we were still a little nervous and didn't sleep very well that night.
We woke up in Straussburg, Germany where we were to catch the next train to Paris. When we went to reserve our seats, we were told that the only train available to Paris that day was not going straight into the city but to the outskirts where we would take the metro in. It was not ideal, but it was our only option, so we took it. Our train ended up taking us to Disneyland Paris, something I was thrilled about even if I was on the outside looking in. We found our way around the metro and finally ended up around Notre Dame around 1 p.m. The rest of the day was great. We saw Notre Dame, tourded the Louvre, and even got to see the Eiffel Tower light up at night. We took a cab to our hostel, which turned out to be awesome. It was a youth hostel decorated in bright colors and patterns, was very clean, and had internet and breakfast. I think we got spoiled with it being our first one.
Saturday we woke up and headed to the train station to reserve our overnight to Salzburg where we were going to go on the Sound of Music tour. When we get to the counter, the woman tells us again that there are NO trains leaving out of Paris that night. NONE. They had all been booked. We now had no idea what to do. We had to be back in Vienna by 10 p.m. or we would lose our travelling priviledges. We spent the next 4 HOURS going from train stations to bus stations and even the airport. Our last resort was to pay 120 euro for a flight to Budapest where we would take a train back to Vienna after sleeping in the airport. We were all stressed, frustrated, and flat out annoyed by the entire situation. We finally called our tour guide, Daniel, for advice, and he recommended trying to get into Germany any way possible. We decided to try the train station one more time. After a few minutes of searching the nice man at the counter found nine tickets on a train leaving Saturday night for Munich. Apparently there were trains leaving out of Paris. I know if any of us ever ran into that first woman again we would have a few things to say to her.
After a few deep breaths, we had about 5 hours to go and enjoy Paris. We spent the afternoon shopping, eating, and just hanging out in the beautiful city! We mad our train in time, and were relieved to be going back home. During the middle of the night, our train stopped at a station for a good two hours, and we have no idea why. This caused us to forget any hopes we had of making the Sound of Music Tour. We arrived in Munich after a 12 hour train ride and hopped on the train back home. During this ride, again, the train stopped due to "construction" on the tracks. By this time we had all come to the conclusion that anything and everything that could have gone wrong was going to, so we just dealt with it.
Besides the continual series of unfortunate events we had to deal with, Paris was still an amazing and beautiful city. The people were surprisingly friendly, and the food was unbelievable of course. I only got a taste of what it was like, so I hope to go back some day.
God taught us a very important lesson this weekend and that is to put all our faith and trust in him. He might have taken longer than we would have liked, but in the end he got us through our storm and brought us back home.
Thursday night a group of nine girls was so excited to be headed out to Paris on our first free travel weekend. We made sure to get to the train station a good forty minutes early so we wouldn't miss our train. While a few of us were wandering throught the grocery store, Charli and myself decided to take a look at the departure board to see if our train had arrived yet. Unfortunately, our train wasn't even on the board. We calmly walked over to the help desk where they told us we were at the wrong train station. Great. The only way to get to the station on time was by taxi, so we grabbed the girls out of the grocery store and flagged down three taxis as fast as we could. Our drivers were kind enough to speed a little bit and we got there with a few minutes to spare. Not a great way to start off, but at least we didn't miss our train. Once we were settled into our rooms we realized that our doors didn't have locks. We had all been told horror stories about people getting things stolen in the middle of the night, so we tied all our things together, wedged them under the seats and fastened them to any pole in sight. Regardless of our cautiousness, we were still a little nervous and didn't sleep very well that night.
We woke up in Straussburg, Germany where we were to catch the next train to Paris. When we went to reserve our seats, we were told that the only train available to Paris that day was not going straight into the city but to the outskirts where we would take the metro in. It was not ideal, but it was our only option, so we took it. Our train ended up taking us to Disneyland Paris, something I was thrilled about even if I was on the outside looking in. We found our way around the metro and finally ended up around Notre Dame around 1 p.m. The rest of the day was great. We saw Notre Dame, tourded the Louvre, and even got to see the Eiffel Tower light up at night. We took a cab to our hostel, which turned out to be awesome. It was a youth hostel decorated in bright colors and patterns, was very clean, and had internet and breakfast. I think we got spoiled with it being our first one.
Saturday we woke up and headed to the train station to reserve our overnight to Salzburg where we were going to go on the Sound of Music tour. When we get to the counter, the woman tells us again that there are NO trains leaving out of Paris that night. NONE. They had all been booked. We now had no idea what to do. We had to be back in Vienna by 10 p.m. or we would lose our travelling priviledges. We spent the next 4 HOURS going from train stations to bus stations and even the airport. Our last resort was to pay 120 euro for a flight to Budapest where we would take a train back to Vienna after sleeping in the airport. We were all stressed, frustrated, and flat out annoyed by the entire situation. We finally called our tour guide, Daniel, for advice, and he recommended trying to get into Germany any way possible. We decided to try the train station one more time. After a few minutes of searching the nice man at the counter found nine tickets on a train leaving Saturday night for Munich. Apparently there were trains leaving out of Paris. I know if any of us ever ran into that first woman again we would have a few things to say to her.
After a few deep breaths, we had about 5 hours to go and enjoy Paris. We spent the afternoon shopping, eating, and just hanging out in the beautiful city! We mad our train in time, and were relieved to be going back home. During the middle of the night, our train stopped at a station for a good two hours, and we have no idea why. This caused us to forget any hopes we had of making the Sound of Music Tour. We arrived in Munich after a 12 hour train ride and hopped on the train back home. During this ride, again, the train stopped due to "construction" on the tracks. By this time we had all come to the conclusion that anything and everything that could have gone wrong was going to, so we just dealt with it.
Besides the continual series of unfortunate events we had to deal with, Paris was still an amazing and beautiful city. The people were surprisingly friendly, and the food was unbelievable of course. I only got a taste of what it was like, so I hope to go back some day.
God taught us a very important lesson this weekend and that is to put all our faith and trust in him. He might have taken longer than we would have liked, but in the end he got us through our storm and brought us back home.
No comments:
Post a Comment